1559 (15 August) Tristan de Luna (of Spain) founded a settlement on Santa Rosa Island and christens Pensacola Bay as Bahía Santa María de Filipina (the settlement is abandoned in 1561 due to severe storms, famines, and conflicts with natives);

1693 (April) General Andrés de Pez (of Mexico/Spain) and Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora (of Spain) explores the north Gulf coast from Pensacola Bay to the mouth of the Mississippi River and re-christen Pensacola Bay as Bahía Santa María de Galve as well as discovering the East River and Blackwater River.

1695 Andrés de Arriola (of Spain) inspects the mouth of the Mississippi River and Pensacola Bay (his reports of the Pensacola don’t portrait it as a paradise as did those of Pez-Sigüenza).

1696 Spanish found Pensacola (Florida); destroyed and abandoned.

1698 Spanish re-settle Pensacola (Florida) under the direction of the first governor Andrés de Arriola;

1719 (14 May) Governor of French Louisiana, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, took Pensacola in the name of France.

1757 King Ferdinand VI (of Spain) issues a royal order establishing the name of the area as “Panzacola”.

1763 the British take control of Penscola under the terms of the Treaty or Paris; Pensacola is made the capital of British West Florida and the town was laid out in its current form around the Seville Square district (by surveyor and engineer Elias Durnford);

1781 the Spanish recapture Pensacola;

1813 General Andrew Jackson (of US) invades Pensacola;

1814 General Andrew Jackson (of US) invades Pensacola;

1818 General Andrew Jackson (of US) invades Pensacola;

1821 the Adams-Onis Tready cedes all of Spanish Florida to the United State;

1825 Pensacola Navy Yard founded and a lighthouse constructed;

1861 (10 January) Florida secedes from the Union and Pensacola becomes part of the Confederate States of America;

1865 (25 June) Florida is readmitted to the Union after the ravages of war and Reconstruction;

So the answer would be — Santa Rosa Island, Florida… and if you want the site of the first continuously occupied European settlement that would be St Augustine, Florida.

However, keep in mind that the US (and both North American and South America) was “discovered” over 15,000 years ago. The first residents crossed Beringia into Alaska, and there’s some archaeological evidence that suggests there may have been residents here even before that.

Fort Pickens, located on Santa Rosa Island, Florida was built after the War of 1812 along with Fort Barrancas, Fort McRee, and Navy Yard to fortify Pensacola Harbor.

On 8 January 1861 guards at Fort Barrancas repelled an attack by a group of local men (some historians consider these as the first shots fired in the American Civil War) causing Lt Adam J Slemmer to destroy 20,000 pounds of gun powerd at Fort McRee, spike the guns at Fort Barrancas, and evacuate his troops to Fort Pickens (which had not been occupied since the Mexican-American War) because he consider that to be a much more defensible location. History proved Slemmer to have made a wise move, since Fort Pickens was the only fort in the South that the Union forces held throughout the war.

In 1960 Fort Pickens was designated a national historic site and opened to the public in 1976.

In 1960 Fort (San Carlos de) Barrancas was designated a national historic site and opened to the public in 1980.

I have some very old film shots of Fort Pickens that I will likely eventually digitize and post to my gallery; though this summer I’ll get some digital stills of both Fort Pickens and Fort Barrancas and the remnant foundations and views from Fort McRee (a nice hike, but nothing much is left).

All three forts (along with Fort Massachusetts, MS) are part of the Gulf Islands National Seashore which stretches along the coast of Mississippi, Alabama, and Northwest Florida.

Apparently Rick Scott refused to take the stage for seven minutes in a debate with Charlie Crist because Crist had placed an fan in his podium to help keep cool.

Scott stated that because the debate rules forbade electronic devices the fan was a violation; clearly (like so many other things), Rick Scott doesn’t know the difference between electrical and electronic devices.

If his intent to was illustrate to the world how stupid he is, he certainly achieved it.

I would never entertain the idea of voting for Scott (nor did I entertain such an idea in the past). That’s not saying I’m thrilled about the candidate running against him… but I’ll certainly make sure to mark my ballot against Rick Scott in a few days when early voting opens.